Hi! LadyAthosTheKat here! Despite the fact that I've been writing for awhile and have several friends who write on this site, this will be my first posted fic. I ask that you give me your honest opinion and help me decide which of the few first stories that I will be posting I should concentrate on. Reviews would be especially helpful in deciding... I truly value your opinions and hope that you will be kind to me! ;P
It pains me to say that I don't own Bleach or Kuroshitsuji... it really does hurt. A lot.
Prologue
It was a beautiful day in the Soul Society. After all of the unrest that Kuchiki Rukia's disappearance from the radar and subsequent reveal as having assisted a ryoka in gaining shinigami powers, the change was welcome. It was said that the Kuchiki patriarch had been sent to retrieve his little sister and put an end to the travesty. Therefore, everyone was free to relax. However, some citizens were not getting the chance to revel in the bright sun and light breeze.
12th division—Kurotsuchi's lab
"Where are those test tubes? You! Fetch me the samples from last week! They need to be reexamined. Why is there no such thing as competent help anymore?!" Kurotsuchi was in a foul mood. His entire day had gone to the dogs. First some idiot had spilled all of the previous day's experiments while fetching him his coffee (wonderful invention that is, only truly good thing about the living world). Then some other buffoon had had an accident while filing, and now all of the hardcopy data that the facility had gathered for the last month was in shambles. All in all, it had been a horrible day for the captain of the 12th division and it didn't look like it was going to be improving any time soon.
Just then, one of the numerous alarms around the building went off loudly, the noise echoing off the walls. Jumping, Kurotsuchi raced towards one of the computer console shoved against the wall. He seemed to tap in dozens of commands before the siren shut off. After that feat was managed, several notices came up on the screen. Seeing them, the man cursed and rushed towards another machine and grabbed a printoff. He summoned his daughter Nemu and ordered her to see that the sheet made it to the Soutaichou. Then he turned around to survey the disaster that made up his once pristine lab.
*Sigh* "This is just not my day at all. Someone get in here and clean this disaster area up or there will be h*** to pay! Well? Where are all of the imbeciles that were cluttering up my lab a few minutes ago? Hmmm…."
1st division—Yamamoto's office
The soutaichou was looking at some documents when the one of his unseated officers came racing in. Glancing up, Yamamoto took in his subordinate's appearance and sighed. He was so hoping to leave work early, too…
"Soutaichou! Several reports of large riatsu activity have arrived. They say that the riatsu will appear and disappear randomly. It has not yet been confirmed whether or not the cause is hostile or not but the captains are still wondering if they should send out scouts to check the situation out."
"Let them send out feelers into the area. Only a small squad will be needed at first. If Hollow activity is confirmed we'll speak about it again", Yamamoto instructed. Mentally, he was groaning. 'This is just not my day. I can only imagine how much paperwork this fiasco is going to rake in… Curse Kurotsuchi!'
"Yes sir. Which division would you like the scouts to come from? Currently, the 11th division has volunteered its services. Rather… enthusiastically in fact." Both men shook their heads simultaneously. Everyone in the Soul Society was aware of the violent nature of the shinigami in the 11th division. It tended to go without saying that if there was a situation that looked like it would require violence, Captain Zaraki Kenpachi and the rest of his subordinates would be following right behind.
'But…. There is one exception to that rule…' Yamamoto thought. 'That's it! I can just put Lieutenant Ryuusei on the surveillance team and let him handle it! Surely nothing could get too out of hand then. That boy is the only sane one in the division!'
"Let Kenpachi's group have the mission on the condition that Co-Lieutenant Hitsugaya Ryuusei leads the team."
"Yes soutaichou."
"Is that all?"
"Yes soutaichou."
The shinigami let himself out the door to the office, quietly closing it behind him. Yamamoto grinned. His day was looking up.
11th division barracks—Captain Kenpachi's office
"Did we get it?"
"Yes, captain. Soutaichou did indeed say that we would be the ones to have jurisdiction over this project. However, there was a condition to it…" the shinigami underling cringed. His captain had been very temperamental today and anything could set him off.
"Well? Speak up! Stuttering is weak!"
"The soutaichou has requested that Lieutenant Ryuusei be on the team we send out."
"Is that it? Yachiru and I were gonna be busy anyways. Somethin' bout some hotshot substitute shinigami runnin' around behind our backs… No skin off my back… what are you still standing around for?! Get moving!"
Outskirts of the Rukongai—Surveillance Team's Camp
Birds were chirping and the sun was still shining as the team set up by the soutaichou bustled around their camp. So far, in the weeks since the assignment had been issued, nothing eventful had taken place. Most of the shinigamis' time was taken up by wandering around the forest, hoping to find some clue that they had missed the previous dozen times they checked. It wasn't going well and they were all ready to throw the towel in and head on home.
"What's the purpose in this anyways?" asked one of the men that had been recruited for the job, "there's no fighting, no sake, no girls… it's pointless! We all know that those research freaks don't know what they're doing anyways, so why did we have to come out here?"
That sentiment earned a chorus of agreements from his fellow shinigami. After the first few days, none 0f them had wanted to be there either. All of the men turned at the sharp but quiet cough that sounded out behind them.
"Gentlemen, you all volunteered for this, so if you have any grievances, you might want to keep them to yourself."
The words were spoken by a diminutive figure with pitch black hair with snow white tips and bangs. The piercing heterochromatic blue and green eyes cut through them and they all cringed. The speaker was none other than their beloved (yet no less feared) co-lieutenant, Hitsugaya Ryuusei.
For the past weeks that they had all spent being miserable and doing nothing, Ryuusei had been the only thing keeping them in line. Out in the middle of nowhere as they were, they were always in danger of rogue Hollows. However, cabin fever abounded and the men's awareness had lessened as time passed. Without Ryuusei, they would've been slaughtered several times over, highly trained senses or not.
Argument halted in its tracks, Ryuusei proceeded to make the announcement that he had meant to make in the first place. "I've just received notice from the captain. We're free to return seeing as there have been no findings."
This piece of news was treated with a cheer and everyone scrambled to pack up their possessions. Ryuusei sighed. 'Some things never change…' He then headed to his own tent to gather up his things.
He had been at it awhile when a twig snapped a little ways off. Snapping his head up, Ryuusei peered off into the distance, straining his eyes for a glimpse of possible danger. Seeing nothing, he returned to his task, more wary this time. Next, a few small squeaking sounds made their ways to Ryuusei. Fed up with the tension, he went to investigate. Rummaging around through the brush and coming up with nothing, the lieutenant turned to make his way back to his tent.
As he passed one of the ancient trees surrounding the western edge of the Rukongai district that they were next to, Ryuusei didn't notice the shimmering of the air in front of him. He also didn't see a small butterfly cross in front of him and disappear. Ryuusei would look back on the instance later and recall these details, and curse himself for not seeing them before it was too late, but that's putting the cart before the horse.
The next few seconds would forever be ingrained in Ryuusei's memory as he stepped forward into the strange patch of space and disappeared into darkness. His last thought as all light and thought disappeared was, 'Shit.'